Poetry
NORTHWIND READING SERIES - OCTOBER
Calling All Writers — Ekphrastic* Write-In & Reading 2008
TWO OCTOBER ART-AND-LIT EVENINGS
Writers are invited to Northwind Arts Center, 2409 Jefferson Street, Port Townsend, on October 7 and 23. These evenings are part of the 10th annual Art Port Townsend arts festival and its month-long calendar of activities.
EKPHRASTIC WRITE-IN The first event is a Write-In on Tuesday, October 7 from 7 to 9 pm. Surrounded by the Art Port Townsend exhibit, Expressions Northwest, you’re invited to respond to individual works in the show or to the show as a whole.
EKPHRASTIC READING The second event is a Public Reading on Thursday, October 23 at 7 pm. Writers who wish to share their responses are invited to return to Northwind on October 23 for a public reading of works generated at the Write-In. Or feel free to attend the reading as listeners.
SPONSOR This opportunity to celebrate and interact with the visual arts in the company of our writing community is sponsored by Northwind Arts Alliance. Questions may be referred to Bill Mawhinney at 360-437-9081 or mawhinneyw_w@msn.com.
*ekphrastic: from ekphrasis, in this context means “the literary representation of or response to visual art.” Examples of well-known ekphrastic works are W. H. Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts,” Frank O’Hara’s “Why I Am Not a Painter,” Anne Sexton’s “The Starry Night,” and W. C. Williams’ “Pictures from Brueghel.”
On October 9, Northwind Reading Series will feature Bill Siverly and Michael McDowell, co-editors of Windfall: A Journal of Poetry of Place. The readings will start at 7 pm in the Northwind Arts Center, 2409 Jefferson Street.
Bill Siverly was born and grew up in Lewiston, Idaho, and he has lived in Portland since 1972. He has published three books of poems: Parzival (1981), Phoenix Fire (1987), and The Turn (2000). His book Clearwater Way is forthcoming from Traprock Books in 2009. Bill taught literature, composition, and creative writing at Portland Community College for twenty-five years. Since 2002 he has been co-editor with Michael McDowell of Windfall: A Journal of Poetry of Place.
Michael McDowell has published fiction, poetry, and nonfiction in such publications as Penny Dreadful, Pawn Review, South Carolina Review, and Confluences. He currently writes prose mostly about nature and landscape writing and poetry mostly about “a sense of place.” Some of the prose appears in the anthologies The Ecocriticism Reader (Univ. of Georgia Press, 1996), Reading the Earth (Univ. of Idaho Press, 1998), and Fifty Key Thinkers on the Environment (Routlege 2001). Some of the poetry appears in Windfall: A Journal of Poetry of Place, which he co-founded and co-edits with Bill Siverly. He teaches composition, literature, and creative writing at Portland Community College.
To explain their editorial focus, Bill and Michael write: “Against the current tide of globalization, we posit its opposite, ‘localization.’ Our identity is tied to place: We don’t know who we are unless we know where we are. A poetry of place is a poetry which values locales, which sees and lets the reader experience what makes a place unique among places. In its fullest sense, the term “place” in poetry includes not only the geographical location and natural environment, but the history of human presence and before. We hope to encounter again a poetry that finds pure delight in being alive in the here and now.”
On October 16, Northwind Reading Series will offer a special evening of Writing on Writing: Works and thoughts from writer/teachers Brenda Miller, Suzanne Paola and Sheila Bender. Judith Kitchen, Assistant Director of the Rainier Writing Workshop, will be master of ceremonies. The readings will start at 7 pm in the Northwind Arts Center, 2409 Jefferson Street.
Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola, Professors in Western Washington University’s Creative Writing Program, Sheila Bender, Publisher of Writing It Real and Judith Kitchen, Assistant Program Director at PLU’s Rainier Writing Workshop, all work in the memoir and personal essay genres. Each will present from work they have published about writing, a piece intended to describe the process to those who study writing. Following the 25-30 minutes of reading, Judith will toss out questions to start a lively discussion among presenters and audience.
Brenda Miller is the author of Season of the Body (Sarabande Books, 2002) and co-author of Tell it Slant: Writing and Shaping Creative Nonfiction (McGraw-Hill, 2003). Her newest collection of essays, Blessing of the Animals, is forthcoming from Eastern Washington University Press in 2009. Her work has received five Pushcart Prizes and has been published in such journals as Fourth Genre, Creative Nonfiction, The Sun, Utne Reader, Georgia Review, and Witness. She is an Associate Professor of English at Western Washington University and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Bellingham Review.
Suzanne Paola has written two books of nonfiction, A Mind Apart: Travels in a Neurodiverse World and Body Toxic, a New York Times notable book, as well as four books of poetry. She coauthored Tell It Slant: Writing and Shaping Creative Nonfiction with Brenda Miller. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, Orion, and numerous journals and anthologies. She is currently working on a new book of nonfiction dealing with the subject of adoption, contracted with W.W. Norton.
Sheila Bender has written nine books on writing, including Writing Personal Poetry from Writer’s Digest Books, Writing and Publishing Personal Essays from Silver Threads and Perfect Phrases for College Application Essays from McGraw-Hill. She publishes Writing It Real, an online instructional magazine for those who write from personal experience and directs the yearly Writing It Real in Port Townsend Writers’ Conference. She continues to be a visiting adjunct faculty member at Pima College in Tucson.
Judith Kitchen has edited three anthologies of short nonfiction pieces (In Short, In Brief, and Short Takes) for W. W. Norton. In addition, she is the author of two books of essays, one novel, a book of poetry, and a book of criticism. She regularly reviews poetry (twice yearly) for The Georgia Review and her articles about writing have appeared in The Seneca Review, Fourth Genre, American Book Review, etc. With former U. S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser, she has recently completed editing an anthology, The Poets Guide to the Birds, forthcoming from Anhinga Press in time for Christmas.
The readings are free and open to the public. Donations are gladly accepted to support Northwind, a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting the arts to our community
Bill Mawhinney, Coordinator
Northwind Reading Series schedule October through December, 2008:
October 7: “Write-In”: Poet’s visit to the Art Port Townsend Juried Show.
October 9: WINDFALL Readers: Bill Siverly & Michael McDowell
October 16: “Writing Instructions” featuring Sheila Bender, Brenda Miller, Suzanne Paola and Judith Kitchen reading essays about their experiences as writing teachers.
October 23: “Read-In”: Poet’s Reaction to Art Port Townsend’s Juried Show Entries
November 13: Judith Kitchen & Jennifer Culkin
November 20: Michael Daly and Finn Wilcox
December 11: Readers’ Party
Poetry on this site: